http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
WHEN THE SAME cop-hating demagogues now lynching four policeman in Albany, N.Y., show
one-half as much self-righteous rage and hatred for the criminal predators in their midst as
they do for the police, I will take their claims of terror at the sight of a policeman
seriously. Somehow, it never works that way. The only criminals cop-haters despise are the
(fortunately rare) ones who happen also to be cops.

That is not the case with the four New York City policemen on trial for murder right now:
They were not criminals. They were good cops with lousy jobs that no one wants, but everyone
needs. A couple of years ago, their jobs sent them to a dangerous neighborhood looking for a
vicious and prolific rapist. He had struck 43 times over an eight-year period in predominantly
black areas of the city.

While driving through the Bronx late that night, the cops spotted a man who fit the
description of the serial rapist taken from police composites. They asked him to stop, which
was, incidentally, well within constitutional strictures, even if they had the wrong guy. In
fact, they did have the wrong guy -- it was an African immigrant named Amadou Diallo, with no
history of trouble with the police.

In a horrible tragedy for all involved, the policemen mistakenly believed the man was not
only was refusing to stop, but was reaching for a gun. When the closest officer in fell
backward off a step, the other three believed he was under attack. In a matter of seconds, an
innocent man was killed in a fusillade of bullets.

Much of the public was shocked at the number of rounds the policemen unleashed, but that is
because much of the public gets its idea of how guns work from Hollywood. On TV, people are
invariably killed dead with a single bullet, typically in a one-handed shot from the hip. If a
policeman shoots more rounds than Clint Eastwood would have needed, people think he's using
citizens for target practice.

In fact, it's easy to understand how four cops could have fired 41 times, especially if
they thought Diallo was not only armed, but shooting back. Consider that 85 percent of people
who get shot with a handgun survive. Even those who fall into the 15 percent category can
usually get off deadly rounds before doing so.

When policemen are under fire, they have to shoot to stop the deadly attack. New York City
policemen use 9-millimeter Glocks, which have small bullets, but also have a capacity for rapid
fire. Four cops could have fired off 41 rounds in about five seconds. They may have had the
wrong guy, but if they believed they were under fire, the number of rounds is hardly
injudicious.

It is preposterous to imagine that this was anything but a tragic mistake. To suppose
otherwise demands that one believe that all four cops decided to go out and commit a murder
that night. One of them couldn't have decided to murder on his own: Even a criminal who happens
also to be a policemen is unlikely to engage in murder in front of three other cops. One must
also believe that having decided to murder for sport, that they opted to do so in public, and
that they did not then bother to plant a weapon on their victim after the fact.
If G-d Himself came down from heaven and told me these cops intentionally murdered Amadou
Diallo knowing he was unarmed, I would not believe it.

Certainly, those sworn to uphold the law can sometimes be criminals, see, e.g., the
president of the United States. So can ministers, gurus and Peace Corps volunteers. But for all
four officers to have decided to commit a murder that night, you're not talking about one thug
cop. You're talking about the Manson family on the New York City police force.

But Manson had a difficult childhood. He is even a cult hero to some. These guys are just
cops. They can be
lynched.